NATIONAL BRIEFING

MANUFACTURING

GE to Halt Earnings Forecasts

General Electric will stop offering quarterly earnings per share forecasts and did not provide specific targets for 2009, but reaffirmed its dividend and said its industrial division may still generate profit growth next year despite the threat of global recession.

The industrial conglomerate, which makes products ranging from kitchen appliances to jet engines, has been battered this year by the financial crisis and problems with its financing arm GE Capital. The decision to stop providing specific earnings guidance comes after the company struggled this year to meet its own forecasts.

In making the change, the company follows other big corporate names like Coca-Cola, AT&T and Google that have dropped annual or quarterly earnings per share guidance.

GE also said the company plans to hold on to its division that makes consumer appliances and light bulbs, a unit it had planned to either sell or spin off. Chief executive Jeff Immelt said the troubled capital markets, especially in the second half of the year, made it difficult to shop the division around to potential buyers.

Immelt said there has been a "broad systems failure in the economy," and that GE expects tough economic conditions to extend into next year.

LEGAL

Supplement Maker Agrees to Fines

The maker of Airborne dietary supplements has agreed to pay $7 million to settle allegations by 32 states that it made false claims about the benefits of its fruit-flavored products.

Under the settlement, Airborne Health agrees to discontinue any claims about the "health benefit, performance, efficacy or safety" of its supplements in preventing and treating colds and other ailments. The company admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

Dreier's Firm to Seek Bankruptcy

Prominent New York law firm Dreier LLP, scandalized by charges that its founder masterminded a massive fraud, will seek bankruptcy protection, according to a receiver, Mark Pomerantz, appointed to run the firm.

Marc S. Dreier was jailed without bail last week after being charged in a criminal complaint and by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the alleged sale of fraudulent promissory notes.

Prosecutors accused Dreier of tricking three hedge funds into making bogus investments in real estate developments. One hedge fund sent $13.5 million to Dreier while another wired $100 million, authorities said. Prosecutors have estimated total loses could top $380 million.